The versatility of cast iron

I like cookies generally, but I've got a particular affection for ludicrously large, whole-batch cookies. I think this is in a large part because of a time in the second year of my undergrad when my friend Valerie came over and we decided that we were going to bake cookies - but were too lazy to make individual cookies, so decided just to make one giant cookie the size of the baking tray instead and we decorated half each. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm reasonably confident that we used my regular cookie recipe, but without any chocolate or nuts - it was a spur-of-the-moment choice to bake, and this was in the days before I actually kept a decent stock of store-cupboard ingredients (I was a student, after all!).

In any case, I've been meaning to try this recipe for a while. I'm now sold on the general utility and greatness of my cast iron skillet, and this just looked like an excellent use for it. This particular recipe is the America's Test Kitchen one, but they've now put their recipe behind a paywall, so I'm actually referencing the Hummingbird High version, who handily also have weights for the ingredients - like them, I also have a 10" skillet rather than a 12" one.

Cast Iron Skillet Cookie

Ingredients

• 170g Butter
• 150g Dark brown sugar
• 100g Caster sugar
• 2tsp Vanilla extract
• 6g Salt
• 1 Whole egg
• 1 Egg yolk
• 250g Plain flour
• 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
• 170g Chopped plain chocolate

Method

1. Brown 130g of the butter in the cast iron skillet, cooking it over a medium heat for ~5 mins until dark golden brown and nutty.
2. Pour melted butter into a mixing bowl and stir in the rest of the butter.
3. Whisk sugar, vanilla and salt into melted butter until smooth.
4. Whisk egg and yolk in for 30 seconds. Leave to stand for 3 minutes.
5. Repeat 30 seconds whisking and 3 minutes resting twice more.
6. Mix flour and bicarbonate of soda together. Stir into butter mixture until just combined.
7. Stir in chocolate chips.
8. Press into an even layer in the base of the skillet.
9. Bake at 190C for ~20-30 minutes.
10. Leave to cool in the skillet.

Here it is, ready for the oven.

And straight out of it. I was a little concerned about how well it would rise, given that it uses bicarb without anything obviously acidic, but clearly my concerns were misplaced!

It's pretty pleasing how cleanly it turned out of the skillet.

It's really pretty good overall. I think it has a teensy touch too much salt personally, and also came out slightly greasy, so I think perhaps it could do with a little less butter too. I think it could also have stood to bake for a little longer - but overall it's really quite good. Fairly fudgy, a bit cakey - perhaps partway between a cookie and a brownie. Definitely good though, and not much hassle to bake!